King of the Munchkins
by Withoutatracelover996
Summary: My first CM fic. Case story w a bit of danger here and there. Will have some pairing, maybe some romance later on. We'll see. Warning for violence - it is Criminal Minds after all . Enjoy!
1. King of the Munchkins

**Hey everyone, I've been on FF for a while but I've only written Without a Trace episodes. Recently when Eric Close was on Criminal Minds I tuned in and became slightly obsessed, watching every episode since season 1. (I'm on season 5 episode 3 now but I'm watching Lauren on Wednesday ;) ). So please be nice, I'm not used to writing Criminal Minds stories and I hope I do it justice! Thanks for reading!**

Amy Bremner climbed out of car, slamming the door. Her black high heels clicked on the concrete as she made her way across the street to her apartment. Amy reached into her purse, searching for her keys. As she tore through her bag, her cell phone found it's way out of the bag and clattered to the ground.

"Damn it," Amy muttered, reaching down to pick it up.

Amy stood back up and shivered, her short dress not keeping her warm in the frigid weather. Hearing a noise, she spun around and found herself facing the butt of a gun.

"Say goodnight, bitch."

* * *

"Amy Bremner, age twenty-six, shot to death in front of her apartment," J.J. recited. "She worked as a prostitute. Her neighbor heard the shot and found her like this," J.J. said, handing Rossi a photo.

Rossi grimaced and passed the photo on.

"There have been four other murders reported this past month. All prostitutes under the age of thirty, all shot to death in front of their homes," J.J. continued.

"So the UNSUB sees them as dirty and wants to get rid of them?" Morgan hypothesized.

"All of their eyes are closed. That's a sign of remorse," Reid offered.

"Maybe he feels guilty after the killings?" Emily considered.

"Maybe. Hey guys, look at this. All of the gunshot wounds are directed upwards, like the victims are taller than our UNSUB," Reid pointed out.

"So we're talking about a midget who doesn't like big people?" Morgan joked.

Ignoring Morgan, Hotch turned to his team. "The plane is waiting, we should get going. Reid, keep working on the UNSUB's height theory. What about it might set him off? All of these women are of average height, five-four to five-six, he would have to be abnormally short."

"You got it," Reid responded.

"Prentiss, take a look at these with Reid, see if you can find any connections between these women based on the crime scene photos," Hotch said, passing Emily a pile of photographs.

Emily leafed through them briefly, they were all Caucasian with dark hair and eyes. "At least we know he's got a type," she remarked.

Morgan came up behind her, "Come on Prentiss, it's time to find the king of the Munchkins."

**So? Ahh the suspense is killing me! Did I do a good job with the characters? What can I work on? Thanks for your reviews!**


	2. Signature

**Thanks for the tip about geographical profiling, ImaSupernaturalCSI, completely forgot about that! Thanks for the reviews (what a big fanbase!) and here is chapter 2... enjoy! PS. This is set when J.J. was still around if you haven't already figured that out.  
**

On the plane, Reid and Prentiss looked over the gruesome photographs, inspecting each of the victims carefully.

Reid snatched up a photo and peered closely at it, "Look at this mark on the victim's left wrist. What does that look like to you?" he asked, handing Emily the picture.

Emily squinted, "It looks almost like paint droplets. Do the other victim's have similar markings?"

Reid shuffled through the photos, "Yeah, they do; all on their left wrists. Is there anything about it on the forensic reports?"

"Give me a second," Emily muttered, going through the pile of paper sitting in front of her. "Here, traces of paint on the victim's left wrist. All of the victim's reports say the same thing. It's three dots of green paint in a horizontal line across their wrist."

Reid frowned, "Strange. Do you think the UNSUB marked them or is it a symbol of something that the victim's were a part of?"

"All of these reports say the paint was fresh, I think that the UNSUB put it there," Emily suggested.

Reid grimaced, "If that's right, we just found his signature."

* * *

"Garcia, what do you have?" Hotch asked.

"Fortunately, my loves, you have stumbled upon the Oracle of Wisdom and I have exactly the connection you have been looking for," Garcia said while typing furiously on the other side of the webcam.

"What did you find, baby girl?" Morgan asked.

"Well, Amy Bremner and the other three victims all took their clients to the same hotel, the Saint Claire - 1264 Waller Street, Dallas, Texas," Garcia announced.

"Can you - " Hotch started.

"Ah, already on it's way through the intricate system of connections known as the World Wide Web," Garcia cut him off.

"Thanks Garcia," Hotch said. The webcam blinked off and Morgan turned around at the sound of Emily's voice.

"We think we found a signature," Emily announced.

"Each of the victim's have three dots of green paint on their left wrist. Does that mean anything to you guys?" Reid asked.

Rossi looked up from one of the reports he was looking over. "I've never heard of it," he inserted.

"We'll get Garcia to look it up," Hotch said.

"Please fasten your seat-belts for landing," The pilot's voice came over the intercom.

Morgan eased himself into his chair and fastened his seat-belt, "First stop - the Saint Claire hotel."

**Ok so I have a pretty clear picture of where I'm going with this. Still unsure about the characters, I'm trying to see if I can see it on CM and I think it's sounding ok. What do you think? Thanks for reading! Next chapter coming soon :)**


	3. The Saint Claire

**Thanks for all of your reviews! New CM tomorrow!**

The Saint Claire hotel was elegantly decorated with jewels and marble slab tiles - hardly the place you would expect to find a prostitute.

"Why do you think they brought their clients here?" Morgan asked, looking up at the tiled ceiling.

"Maybe they worked with a higher end clientele. Politicians, business men - not just anyone. The richer the client, the higher the expectations," Rossi stated, gesturing at the uniformed bell boy.

"Do you think our UNSUB works here?" Morgan asked.

Rossi looked unsure, "It's possible. He could be one of the staff or he could be one of the Johns."

"Here, give me a second," Morgan said, grabbing Rossi by the shoulder as he passed him.

Morgan sauntered up to a young woman, maybe twenty-five years old.

"May I help you?" She asked from the Reception desk.

"Yes you can," Morgan said, showing his badge.

The woman stiffened, "Um... maybe we should talk in private."

"I think that's a good idea," Morgan glanced at her name tag, "Adrianna."

Morgan and the receptionist went over to a quiet corner where Morgan began giving Adrianna the profile.

"Did you know that this hotel is regularly used by prostitutes and their clients?" Morgan asked.

Adrianna shifted uncomfortably, "Yes, I was aware."

"Are there any workers here who are noticeably upset by them? This person might have said something to them, or is repeatedly telling the manager of this hotel that they shouldn't be allowed in. He would have made a very big deal of this," Morgan said, staring at Adrianna.

"Um... I don't think there's anyone..." Adrianna started.

"Listen to me. There are people's lives at stake. If you know something, and you're not telling me, someone else will die," Morgan said, staring hard at Adrianna, a warning in his eyes.

Adrianna hesitated, before cracking under the pressure Morgan was inflicting. "There's this guy, he came in last week and caused a big scene. He shouted about how our hotel was letting whores stay here. Our manager called the police but he was gone," Adrianna said.

"Ok, that's great. Now did you notice how tall this man was?" Morgan asked.

"I don't know... five-eleven maybe," Adrianna guessed.

Morgan frowned and handed his card to Adrianna. "Alright, thanks for your help. If you think of anything else, don't hesitate to call me."

* * *

"This UNSUB kills within a five mile radius. The Saint Claire hotel is the closest thing to the center of all of the crimes so we can probably assume that he lives near the hotel and is targeting his victims based on who he sees at the hotel," Reid explained.

"Makes sense," Emily agreed.

The phone on the table began to vibrate, causing Emily to reach for it. "Prentiss. Hi Garcia, what have you got? Uh huh, Ok just hang on a second, I'm going to put you on speaker," Emily pressed a button on her phone, "Ok Garcia, go ahead."

"Ok, I'm going to need a little more time on the creepy paint thing, I haven't had any hits yet. But, I do have hotel security footage which clearly shows a very tall man barging into the Saint Claire and screaming about something - the camera didn't capture audio," Garcia explained.

"This doesn't fit," Reid pondered. "The gunshots were clearly inflicted by someone shorter than the victims themselves."

"Maybe it's not our guy," Emily suggested.

"I don't know," Reid said, "Something just doesn't seem right."

"Yeah," Emily muttered while taking out her cell phone and calling Morgan.

* * *

"What do you mean it's not him?" Morgan demanded over the phone.

"He's too tall. The UNSUB is definitely under five-two and this guy is pushing six feet," Emily relayed.

"He fits our profile, if it's not him, we're back to square one, Prentiss," Morgan said.

"I know," Emily sighed, "Did Garcia get a hit on facial recognition with the security tape yet?"

"No, she said the angles were wrong and couldn't get enough points on the guy's face," Morgan said.

"There's got to be a way to draw this guy out," Emily started, "It's Friday night - a busy night for prostitutes - he's probably going to strike again."

"Well I guess we'd better hope he doesn't," Morgan replied grimly.

* * *

Chantel whipped around, pepper spray in hand. She froze, however, when she saw the person holding the gun. Fear filled her eyes, "Please - don't!"

A gunshot rang out and silenced her cry forever.

**So that was two chapters stuck together because one was REALLY short. Anyways, like? Didn't like? Let me know! Honestly, reviews speed up the writing process ;) **


	4. Mystery Solved

**SPOILERS FOR NEW LAUREN EPISODE!**

**

* * *

**

**I TRIED TO MAKE THE WARNING BIGGER BUT IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN LAUREN YET AND YOU DON'T WANT TO WRECK IT DON'T READ THE FOLLOWING AUTHOR'S NOTE!**

**So I wasn't going to post tonight but I watched CM Lauren and I thought it's an appropriate time. By the way, I burst into tears when I thought Prentiss was dead and I didn't stop even after we found out she didn't. Thanks for your kind reviews!**

Hotch ducked under the yellow crime scene tape and took in the picture in front of him.

"Chantel Oakes, twenty-three years old," Rossi stated.

"The gunshots are consisted with all of the others. Inflicted by someone shorter than the victim," Morgan said, crouching down beside the body. He pulled the young woman's wrist towards him. "Paint's there, it's our guy."

"Call Garcia," Hotch ordered.

"Hello my sexy beast, what can I do for you today?" Garcia answered.

"Hey Garcia, did you happen to find anything on the green paint?" Morgan asked.

"Yes, actually, I was just about to call you. In 1964, there was a human trafficking ring. It ran for fourteen years before the police stepped in. That same row of green dots was found on their left wrists. Now, the owner of all of the girls was named Henry Fargen. He started the ring and ran it the whole time it was in business. He was the only employee except for his son - Riley Fargen - he was nine at the time. In the police statement it says - oh my God," Garcia stopped.

"What is it, Garcia?" Morgan asked.

"The police report says that Henry got Riley to paint on three green dots horizontally across their wrist to mark them as Henry's. The police put Riley into foster care but he was a problem child so he bounced around until he turned eighteen. He had PTSD and it caused him to act out. He always repeated strange phrases that the foster parents found unsettling. He would say things like: "Filthy whore" and "You deserve to die because of your sins"," Garcia finished with a shudder.

"Thanks Garcia, you're a lifesaver," Morgan flipped his phone shut and turned to Rossi and Hotch. "Guys, I think we just found our guy."

**Oh it's a short one today. I thought about expanding but I couldn't resist leaving you with that one-liner. Sorry! More soon to come! Please review!  
**


	5. Going Undercover

**Gotta say a little disappointed with reviews last chapter... only got 1 :( (Thanks ThePenisMighty)**

**Anyways, not a big deal but if you have the time, reviews are appreciated :)**

**Enjoy!**

"So, what are we waiting for? We know who our UNSUB is, why aren't we arresting him now?" Emily asked.

"Garcia checked and there's no known address for Riley Fargen. There's no record of him at all since 2002. All we know is that he's forty two years old and he's mentally unstable," Hotch reported.

Reid frowned and muttered to himself.

"What?" Rossi asked.

Reid looked up, surprised. "Oh, sorry. I was just thinking about the height factor. It still doesn't fit the profile,"

"Keep working on it. If anyone figures it out, it'll be you, boy genius," Morgan said.

"Prentiss, how comfortable are you with going undercover with me tonight?" Hotch asked.

Emily looked surprised, "That's fine with me but how do we know that he's going to pick me as his target?"

Hotch looked at her, "We'll make sure of it."

* * *

The team was waiting for Emily to change, Hotch was already ready with his business attire.

"You guys, I think I've got it," Reid announced. "What if the UNSUB is getting down on his knees to shoot? As if he's reenacting the scene from when he was a little boy?"

"Sounds plausible," Rossi agreed.

Emily stepped out into the room wearing a mini skirt with black fishnets underneath and a low cut top. She had bright blue eyeshadow and red lips. A hooker, but a decent one.

"Do I look convincing?" She asked, doing a mock spin.

"Very," Morgan laughed. "You look like a prostitute, Prentiss. Congratulations!"

Emily gave Morgan a look.

Hotch appeared from around the corner looking the same as always. "Do you have your mics in?"

"Of course," Emily replied. "Are we ready to do this?"

"Let's go," Hotch answered.

* * *

Rossi and Reid had their cars set up outside of the hotel, watching for any signs of someone watching. It was a Saturday night but there was a surprisingly small amount of prostitutes in the area. Hotch and Emily seemed to be the only couple.

Rossi smirked when he saw Emily tousle Hotch's hair while he kept his arm around her.

"They're pretty convincing," Rossi said.

Reid gave a grunt of acknowledgment.

"Is something bothering you?" Rossi asked.

"Something's just not sitting right," Reid admitted.

"Well speak up once you figure out what it is. We don't want to be taking unnecessary chances here," Rossi said.

* * *

"Do you guys see anything?" Emily asked discreetly as she made her way through the lobby.

"Not yet, you guys are doing great. Just keep going," Rossi said.

"There's no one on the East side," Morgan reported over the mic.

Rossi sighed, putting his head in his hand. "It's going to be a long night."

* * *

Riley watched while the whore took her John into the hotel. "Enjoy it, bitch. It's the last trick you'll ever turn."

**Oooh... big finale coming up! Review please!**


	6. Unfair Showdown

**Aw I feel so loved :) Thanks for reviews! So... drumroll please... Here is the finale! It's been fun everyone!**

Hotch and Emily waited in the room that they had booked for the evening. The blinds had been closed and Emily flipped through TV channels.

"Do you think he's going to go for it?" She asked.

"I hope so. It's our only chance of catching the guy," Hotch said.

"So run this by me one more time, we leave in an hour because you've got kids to tuck in at night. I go back to my apartment where Rossi and Reid will be waiting with a few undercover cops. You're going to get into Morgan's car and wait to see if anyone follows me home. Is that right?" Emily asked.

"Yes. You will be completely safe, Prentiss. Don't worry about it," Hotch assured.

"I'm not worried, I just want to know what's going to be going on around me," Emily defended herself.

"I know," Hotch sighed.

An Hour Later

"Emily's getting into her car, Hotch is on his way here," Morgan reported from the backseat of Hotch's car.

Hotch climbed into the front seat and started the car, watching Emily pull away. He waited a moment, pretending to be looking for something from his briefcase and was rewarded by a dark Sedan following Emily down the road.

Hotch grimaced and drove after the car.

* * *

"Ok everyone, we have a possible," Rossi said over the mic. "Emily is pulling up now and the Sedan just parked. Standby."

Emily exited the car and made her way to her apartment.

A young girl jumped out of the Sedan first.

"Hold your fire! False alarm everyone," Rossi said quickly.

Rossi sighed, "Emily, keep going. Once you're in the apartment, we can be certain that the UNSUB didn't take the bait.

The Sedan's door opened and a man stepped out behind his daughter. He whispered something in her ear and handed her an object. She ran up behind Emily.

"What's she doing?" Rossi asked.

Reid's eyes opened in shock, "The height, it's consistent with a child's height."

"Everyone be ready to fire!" Rossi shouted, jumping out of the car.

* * *

Emily turned around and was faced by a young girl, about nine years old pointing a gun at her. Emily gasped, "Sweetheart, I'm with the police, don't shoot. Just put the gun down nice and slow."

Rossi jumped out of the car, "FBI!" He shouted.

Several police along with Hotch, Morgan and Reid had their guns out. Everything seemed to be frozen in time.

Riley was forced into handcuffs by an undercover cop and was handed to Hotch. Riley shouted, "Shoot her, Grace! Shoot her, she doesn't deserve to live!"

The young girl, Grace, hesitated.

"Don't do this, Grace, I am a police officer. You don't want to shoot me," Emily rationalized.

"That's what they all say. Don't shoot. It's their guilty soul talking," Grace said darkly.

"No, it's not. Grace, don't do this," Emily pleaded but she could already see she was losing the battle.

"I'm sorry, I have to do this," Grace said, closing her eyes with her finger on the trigger.

Several shots rang out, none hitting Emily. Grace crumpled to the ground, lifeless.

"No! No, no, no," Emily said, crouching next to the girl and checking her pulse. Feeling nothing, Emily's eyes watered. It was days like this that made her question humanity.

Riley began shouting his daughter's name over and over, breaking free from Hotch's grasp. Another three shots were fired and Riley too, lay on the floor, no longer able to harm anyone else.

Sirens were heard in the background and Hotch rushed over to Emily who was covered in the little girl's blood. "Are you alright Prentiss? Emily?"

Emily was silent before breaking from her trance. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry - I couldn't do anything," she said helplessly.

"No one is blaming you, no one's blaming you," Hotch soothed.

Emily looked up at Hotch. "I know, it's just sad." Emily looked down at the small girl's body and gently closed her eyes. "It's just not right."

"I know. It's not right and it's not fair. All we can remember is that we saved a lot of lives tonight and that little girl was not living a good life with Riley. We didn't take her away from anything that she would miss," Hotch murmured.

Emily looked up at him, "Thanks."

Hotch nodded and reached out a hand, helping her up.

The team looked at the bloody mess on the street and tried to console themselves. A quote that seemed to justify their actions was said by Albert Einstein: "_The world is a dangerous place. Not because of the people who are evil; but because of the people who don't do anything about it."_

**Ta-da! All done! So ImaSupernaturalCSI was on the right track the entire time ;). Did you like it? Please review (even if you haven't been reviewing, I'd love to see what you thought)!  
**

**PS: If anyone has story ideas they would like to see penned, let me know through messaging or reviews because I'm looking for new storylines :)**

**Special thanks to:**

**crazyobsessions**

**Ana**

**BbyStarlette**

**AureliaMarie  
**

**Cellzo**

**ImaSupernaturalCSI**

**ThePenIsMighty**

**and**

**romiross**

**For your reviews!  
**


End file.
